Nah, It’s Not Arrogance ... SEC Just Better Than Your League
Everybody that hates the SEC missed their chance on New Year's Eve.
When Ohio State's kicker duck-hooked a field goal at the end, the best chance anybody had at derailing the league sailed wide with it.
They may just have one more shot at winning a title. When the whole playoff expands to 12 teams after 2024, the idea somebody else gets a better shot may be gone for awhile.
Sorry, that's not arrogance. The SEC is just better at college football than your conference.
When Michigan somehow lost a first-round playoff game to TCU, that left the Big Ten's hopes with Ohio State. When the Buckeyes rolled out to a sizeable lead over Georgia, it was like a two-for-one deal for fans of that league.
It didn't work out. The Midwest was probably the Horned Frogs' biggest fans Monday night.
The reality is the Bulldogs probably didn't have one of their better games against Ohio State, who was a pretty good team.
There's not much excuse for a Wolverines' team that has probably as large of a fan base as anybody in the country and a coach that may or not be over-rated.
About the only way that would have been better for the SEC would have been if it had been Tennessee or Alabama playing Michigan. Those two didn't make the top four of the playoff rankings, although don't ask me for a specific reason why.
With one more season of just four teams, College Football Playoff director Bill Hancock faces maybe his most challenging issue of explaining how at least 25% of the SEC might be in those dozen teams every year.
Just look at the numbers.
The committee may have actually wanted to rank TCU fourth in those last ones before the games but that would have created the awkward situation of a Big Ten first-round rematch between Ohio State and Michigan.
Just like when Alabama and Georgia have both made the final four, they didn't want them playing in the first round.
In those final dozen this year, the Volunteers and Crimson Tide would have both been in the playoff.
It will continue. Basketball is good around the SEC, but it's a league that's always been about football and nothing is going to change.
While the league does some marketing around the other sports and, sure, they enjoy winning titles, it's about football.
The SEC Network exists because of football. It wouldn't be surprising if we find out someday all this talk of Texas and Oklahoma joining the league a year early is directly tied to the expanded playoff and ESPN would like the Longhorn Network carrying a league game every week.
Either nobody has thought to ask or knows exactly what will happen to that channel when the Longhorns come in. It wouldn't be surprising if it somehow isn't rebranded somehow as also an SEC Network channel.
Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte kinda confirmed this back in May last year when he referred to it as the History Channel.
With ABC also jumping into the SEC brand (they are owned by Disney that owns ESPN), the league can broadcast every conference game on it's very own branded channels.
In case you're wondering, that's where the big money is located ... on television.
And now the SEC can broadcast it's own games.
That's not arrogance ... it's simply being better than everybody else.
allSEC TODAY FEED:
WHAT EVERYBODY WAS SAYING AHEAD OF MONDAY NIGHT'S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
GEORGIA COACH KIRBY SMART CAN'T WIN EVEN BRINGING TROPHY BACK TO ATHENS
SEC NEARLY AVOIDED NIGHTMARE OF TEXAS A&M HAVING AN OFFENSE, NOW THEY'VE GOT TO DEAL WITH IT
BILLS' DAMAR HAMLIN LEAVING FIELD ALIVE DUE IN PART TO A COUPLE OF OTHER TRAGEDIES IN SPORTS WITH ARKANSAS, ALABAMA TIES
OHIO ST. LEARNED LESSON TEXAS, OKLAHOMA NEED TO LEARN BEFORE JOINING SEC
OK JOSH HEUPEL, THAT WAS GREAT, NOW DO IT AGAIN
HOW DO TCU-GEORGIA MATCH-UP AGAINST EACH OTHER IN NATIONAL TITLE GAME?
SKIP BAYLESS HAMMERING ON STETSON BENNETT MID-GAME MAY HAVE JINXED OHIO STATE
KIRBY SMART MAY HAVE MADE COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S MOST IMPACTFUL PLAY OF THE YEAR
